MVA not sheepish about its grazing flock of sheep helping nesting birds

A flock of sheep is helping the Meewasin Valley Authority preserve grasslands around Saskatoon. Here are five things you need to know about some of the city’s hardest working animals.

1

— Not so sheepish

The MVA has been using a flock of 300 sheep to graze the area around the Northeast Swale for 15 years. Renny Grilz, an MVA resource management officer, said while projects using grazing goats are currently in the spotlight, larger urban centres like Calgary and Edmonton looked to Saskatoon for guidance.

2

— That’s a long day

Shepherd Sue Michalsky and her assistant Meghan Johnston spend 15 hours a day working with the sheep as they eat their way across the prairie grasses. Michalsky, an East End-area rancher, has been working with cattle all her life and has been raising sheep for 10 years, working with the MVA since 2016. The flock will work its way through 30 hectares of grassland in 2018. 3

— Greener pastures

The main purpose of the project is to help preserve natural habitats in the Northeast Swale as a way to ensure grassland nesting birds — like the Sprague’s Pipit and Short-eared Owl — are preserved and can thrive. Using a portable electric fence, shepherds ensure the sheep are focused on a certain area. Because some plant species in the area, like water hemlock, are poisonous to the sheep, they are kept out of certain areas.

4

— Bon Appesheep

Members of Michalsky’s flock will likely be sent to feed lots or for slaughter on the west coast in the fall. Michalsky said grazing on such a diverse diet ensures their entire range of nutritional requirements is met, so little food needs to be supplemented — and with food in such ample supply, the animals grow fairly fast.

5

— Will soon say Baaayeee

The grazing sheep will be in Saskatoon until Sept. 16. Members of the public are invited to come and meet the animals face to face. Michalsky said people are usually “a little bit surprised” when they hear of the MVA’S flock and the work it does. The project was made possible by a $150,000 grant from Environment Canada aimed at preserving grassland nesting birds.

MORGAN MODJESKI Shepherd Sue Michalsky with Brownie, a two-year-old hair sheep, just one of 300 animals grazing in the area as part of a project helping to preserve the habitat of grassland nesting birds on the prairies.